A few weeks ago, I sent my friend Bill a link to an article in the Denver Post about Steven Hawkings warning that we’re going to need a new planet sometime in the future. He responded; then I responded, then he responded back, etc. After I few exchanges I felt that we had some pretty interesting observations about life, the universe, and everything. So with Bill’s permission, I’m reprinting those emails here, in the fond hope that someone besides us can have some fun with our arcane comments. Bill is an amateur astronomer, so he’s starry-eyed but still skeptical…

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – APRIL 12: Professor Stephen Hawking onstage during the New Space Exploration Initiative “Breakthrough Starshot” Announcement at One World Observatory on April 12, 2016

I dunno. Hawking’s always been kind of a pessimist. He’s the one that said we need to quit broadcasting out presence to the universe (via radio/tv/communications, etc.) lest we draw the attention of a hostile alien culture.

I myself am a bit of a pessimist. I agree about the dangers of nuclear annihilation, unsustainable use of resources and the rest. We have a new president coming in January who seems to be determined to set us on a course which will pound us (those who survive) back into the stone age. Mel Gibson’s post apocalyptic “Mad Max” is beginning to look more like prophecy than fiction.

Should we discover an Earth like exoplanet, there is the problem of getting there. Current technologies would take thousands of years to reach the nearest star. I think we’re pretty much stuck with Mother Earth, and we’d better get our shit straight or it’s the end of humanity.

I for one would be satisfied with the discovery of extraterrestrial life, be it intelligent or microbial. I believe the laws of evolution are as universal as the laws of physics. Where there is life, there is evolution. Where there is evolution, the development of intelligence is inevitable.

Maybe those crop circle creating entities will come out of the closet and save us. Who knows?

Okay. I like you believe that the earth is being run down to the nub, and that Trump will hasten its demise via his anti-scientific policies. I like you believe that there is intelligent life somewhere in the universe other than us.

But you don’t believe we’ll ever have the technology to travel to distant planets. If that’s true, then any other distant civilization would not have developed that technology either. Consequently you can’t believe that the UFO phenomena could be craft from another world, since they would not have that “impossible” technology any more than we would ever have. Am I understanding you correctly?

If so, that’s where our beliefs differ. I believe that a statistically-significant percentage of UFO sightings are real craft from another world who have mastered interplanetary travel in time and/or space. There is simply too much evidence from credible sources. If not, what are they? If I believe that, I have to believe that the corresponding technology exists for these aliens to get here. I don’t have to understand their motivation to believe this. So I believe that if they somehow developed that technology, given enough time and other resources, we will too.

Then as Hawking says, we’ll be able to escape this planet before they hang out the “closed” sign. I find that neither optimistic nor pessimistic; I think its just logical if one believes in the underlying premise of valid UFO phenomena. If I were to conjecture about alien’s motivation to visit us, maybe its to show us that they exist and demonstrate that we too can develop a way to get to their planet. Maybe when they feel the time is right they’ll teach us how. An evolutionary adaptive mutation with a little help from our new friends who don’t want to see our civilization collapse. I know that’s a violation of Star Trek’s “prime directive,” but I digress.

Most unlike the sci-fi cliché of “they’re here to destroy us!” That belief is more a product of our own violent tendencies than anything else. After all, that’s what we tried to do to the First Americans. But I digress again.

My conclusions about the unlikelihood of interstellar travel are based on current technology and technology on the near horizon. Who knows what the future may bring? I’m basing my conclusions on the speed of light being the limiting factor. This precludes the possibility of technology that would warp space-time, thus bringing distant points closer. But so far, this technology remains in the realm of science fiction. But not entirely…see Alcubierre drive – Wikipedia

I’m still not totally sold on UFO’s, but I’m willing to keep an open mind. I agree that if they indeed are here, their intentions are to observe and perhaps at some point guide us along. They may be waiting to see if we will come to our senses before we destroy ourselves and/or the planet. If their intentions were hostile, we’d be toast already!

“Relation to Star Trek warp drive . . .The Star Trek television series used the term “warp drive” to describe their method of faster-than-light travel. Neither the Alcubierre theory, nor anything similar, existed when the series was conceived, but Alcubierre stated in an email to William Shatner that his theory was directly inspired by the term used in the show, and references it in his 1994 paper.”

Legends, myths and stories abound about our ancient ancestors having been visited by ET’s. Petroglyphs and pictographs have been found that depict people in what appear to be space helmets and drawings of UFO’s are not uncommon. How did they know about these things? Dreams? Visits? Could ancient astronauts have really visited our planet during its more primitive development, and were the people given knowledge that otherwise would have taken centuries longer to develop themselves? We really still don’t know how the ancient Egyptians constructed the pyramids; or how the Easter Island statutes were erected, or how the Mayans built perfect brick walls in their cities with only primitive carving and measurement tools. Check out this geo-design (though there are terrestrial theories about these) that can only be recognized from a high altitude. Created from 500 BC to 500 Ad…

The Nasca are probably best known for the famous “Nazca Lines”, giant geoglyphs which they left etched into the surface of the vast, empty desert plain that lies between the Peruvian towns of Nazca and Palpa.

This is even scarier… Jesus and UFOs in Religious Art-

The Baptism of Christ . . . “Were the Magi aliens? A disk shaped object is shining beams of light down on John the Baptist and Jesus – Fitzwilliam Musuem, Cambridge, England – Painted in 1710 by Flemish artist Aert De Gelder. It depicts a classic, hovering, silvery, saucer shaped UFO shining beams of light down on John the Baptist and Jesus. What could have inspired the artist to combine these two subjects?”

This is all wild speculation to be sure, and there may be the ever-popular “rational explanations,” but how do we know alien influence didn’t happen? And why couldn’t it happen again at a critical stage in our future development if we are at the edge of disaster? Some far off alien society may already have an investment in us, and may not want to lose it!

If you recall the 1955 sci fi movie, This Island Earth, you may remember that those aliens gave the puny earthlings plans to build a spaceship to go to their planet. If it wasn’t for the damn mutants once they got there, it could have been the start of a beautiful friendship.

P.

Email #8:

Bill,

Some very interesting footage on this hour long youtube vid. Have no idea of the credibility of same, especially the last clip. But apparently there’s been a surge in UFO activity and reportage since the election and some John Podesta WikiLeaks emails. Conspiracy theories wrapped up UFO stories? In any case, an entertaining hour.